BLACKSBURG -- This time, there was no heartbreak.

Last December, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team lost its ACC opener when Duke's Sean Dockery made a 40-footer at the buzzer.

On Sunday, Wake Forest's Jamie Skeen missed a 30-footer at the buzzer, and the Hokies came away with a 63-60 victory at Cassell Coliseum.

A loss "would have been a heartbreaker," Tech guard Markus Sailes said.

"That would've really been miserable if that went in," Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said.

In the 77-75 loss at Duke, the officials conferred with one second left and put six-tenths of a second back on the clock.

On Sunday, Wake's Michael Drum tried to throw a baseball pass the length of the court to center Kyle Visser, but Tech's Chris Tucker got his hand on the ball and it went out of bounds with three-tenths of a second left. The officials looked at a television monitor and decided to add four-tenths of a second to the clock.

"We're just cursed in clock situations," Greenberg said.

The Hokies were determined to avoid a repeat of the Dockery 3-pointer. Greenberg told the team that whoever was closest to the shooter should run to him and put a hand up.

Sailes said the Hokies told each other, "No Duke," after they broke their huddle.

Wake's Shamaine Dukes inbounded the ball under the Tech basket and passed to Skeen. Sailes was determined to get a hand in Skeen's face, and he did.

"We [were] not going to let that shot go off cleanly," Sailes said.

Visser had 18 points and nine rebounds for Wake Forest (5-4, 0-1 ACC), which lost its fourth straight game.

The Hokies (7-3, 1-0) won their third straight game and improved to 2-3 in games decided by six points or less. Last year, Tech was 3-12 in such games.

A.D. Vassallo said the win will build Tech's confidence.

"Last year, these three-point, two-point games, usually we were losing them, or ... we were thinking, 'What's going to happen now? Are we going to lose it again?' " said Vassallo, who had 14 points. "It happened a couple games ago with [a 63-62 loss to George Washington]. It's something that kind of haunts us."

Free-throw shooting remains a problem. The Hokies were 20-of-32 from the free-throw line, including 8-of-14 in the final 3:40. Vassallo was 3-of-6 in that stretch.

"It was like a conspiracy, that he was trying to kill me," Greenberg said.

Zabian Dowdell had 14 points for Tech. He was just 2-of-13 from the field, but was 10-of-13 from the line, including 2-of-4 in the final two minutes.

"We've been shooting so many free throws [in practice], I've been dreaming about free throws," Dowdell said.

Tech's Jamon Gordon, who had 13 points, sprained his right knee midway through the second half. His status for Thursday's road game against Seton Hall is uncertain. Sailes played well in Gordon's absence.

Tech went on a 6-0 run to take its first lead at 38-37 with 12:37 to go.

The Demon Deacons shot 43.5 percent from the field in the second half. Visser didn't score in the final 6:45.

The Hokies again struggled offensively, even though Wake entered the game allowing an ACC-high 78.5 points per game.

Tech shot just 34.5 percent from the field in the first half but 45.5 percent in the second.

"They were pressuring us and we allowed them to take us out of what we wanted to do because we just weren't tough enough" in the first half, Greenberg said. "In the second half, we were tough on offense. ... In the second half, you saw the ball actually reversed -- a unique, novel thought."

Post players Lewis Witcher, Cheick Diakite, Coleman Collins and Robert Krabbendam combined for nine points. Collins got in foul trouble and was scoreless in 16 minutes.

"We're going to be better offensively," Greenberg said. "We're doing this without basically getting anything from Coleman, and I think he's going to come along."

Wake Forest MP FG FT R A F PT

Drum 31 4-9 0-0 6 1 3 8

Weaver 13 0-1 0-0 1 0 2 0

Visser 34 6-12 6-8 9 1 2 18

Smith 16 1-3 1-2 1 1 5 4

Williams 23 1-3 2-7 5 2 3 4

Dukes 24 2-4 0-0 1 1 4 4

Hale 12 1-3 0-0 0 0 1 2

Swinton 5 1-1 0-0 1 0 1 2

Skeen 27 3-4 5-6 5 2 3 13

Gurley 15 2-5 0-2 0 1 3 5

Team 3

Totals 200 21-45 14-25 32 9 27 60

Virginia Tech MP FG FT R A F PT

Washington 25 3-5 2-2 7 1 4 9

Witcher 25 2-4 0-1 3 0 1 4

Diakite 12 1-3 0-0 3 0 2 2

Dowdell 35 2-13 10-13 5 4 2 14

Gordon 28 6-11 0-1 0 1 3 13

Munson 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Krabbendam 11 1-3 1-3 5 0 3 3

Sailes 22 1-2 2-4 2 4 1 4

Collins 16 0-1 0-0 2 0 5 0

Vassallo 24 4-8 5-8 1 1 1 14

Tucker 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0

Team 4

Totals 200 20-51 20-32 32 11 22 63

Wake Forest 31 29 -- 60

Virginia Tech 27 36 -- 63

3-point goals -- Wake 4-17 (Drum 0-3, Weaver 0-1, Smith 1-3, Williams 0-1, Dukes 0-1, Hale 0-2, Skeen 2-3, Gurley 1-3), VT 3-10 (Washington 1-1, Dowdell 0-2, Gordon 1-2, Munson 0-1, Krabbendam 0-1, Sailes 0-1, Vassallo 1-2). Turnovers -- Wake 14 (Skeen 3), VT 10 (Gordon 4). Blocked shots -- Wake 1 (Skeen 1), VT 5 (Vassallo 2). Steals -- Wake 3 (Dukes 1, Skeen 1, Gurley 1), VT 6 (Dowdell 3).

Officials -- Maxwell, Kitts, Shaw.

Attendance -- 9,472.